Andrew Rayel
NERVO is an Australian electronic duo formed by twin sisters Miriam “Mim” Nervo and Olivia “Liv” Nervo, born on February 18, 1982 in Melbourne. The musicians are known simultaneously as DJs, songwriters, producers, vocalists and sound engineers. Their career is unusual for the major festival electronic scene: long before achieving international success with their own music, Miriam and Olivia spent nearly a decade professionally writing songs for other artists. Among NERVO’s major works are The Way We See the World, We're All No One, You're Gonna Love Again, Like Home, Hold On, Revolution, The Other Boys, People Grinnin', Anywhere You Go, Best Friend, Gotta Be You, Come Into My World and Destination Unknown (Calabria), while Collateral remains the central album in their discography.
NERVO’s story is closely connected with two musical worlds at once. On the one hand, the sisters developed as professional pop songwriters and worked with Kylie Minogue, Kesha, The Pussycat Dolls, Miley Cyrus, David Guetta, Kelly Rowland, Armin van Buuren and other artists. On the other, in the early 2010s they became part of the international rise of EDM, reached the world’s biggest festival stages and turned their own name into an independent electronic project. Apple Music describes their work specifically as a combination of pop songwriting and club-oriented electronic music, while DJ Mag regards NERVO as regular participants on the global festival circuit.
Childhood in Melbourne
Miriam and Olivia Nervo grew up in Melbourne in a family of Italian heritage. Their parents worked as dentists and initially regarded music primarily as a hobby rather than an obvious future profession for their daughters. The sisters learned piano from childhood, took part in school productions and developed an early interest not only in performing but also in how music itself was constructed.
During their teenage years, Miriam and Olivia attracted the attention of modelling agencies. A future in fashion was a genuine possibility, but music remained their main interest. Vogue later noted that the sisters turned away from the prospect of focusing on modelling and moved to England at the age of eighteen, where they studied and worked on music composition.
Their first professional experiences began even earlier. At around sixteen, they started working in an Australian studio and were given the opportunity to write songs with a local producer. This material attracted the attention of a music manager in the United Kingdom, ultimately helping the sisters organise their move to London.
The decision was risky. During the first years, music provided almost no stable income. NERVO later told DJ Mag that they combined studio work with other jobs in order to support themselves in London. At times they worked several jobs simultaneously, including a period as waitresses at a private club frequented by people from the music industry.
This stage lasted considerably longer than one might assume from NERVO’s rapid rise during the era of EDM. By 2015, the sisters estimated that they had been making music together for around fourteen years, approximately nine of which were spent primarily doing studio work for other artists.
Early success as songwriters
At eighteen, the sisters signed a publishing deal and began working professionally as a songwriting duo. One of their first notable songs was Negotiate with Love by British singer Rachel Stevens. The single was released in 2005 and reached number ten on the UK chart. Miriam and Olivia are credited among its writers alongside Anders Wollbeck and Mattias Lindblom.
The success did not make them widely known to the public, but it strengthened their position within the professional music industry. Over the following years, the sisters worked on material for artists from Europe, the United States and Asia. Armada Music Publishing lists Kylie Minogue, Kesha, The Pussycat Dolls and Miley Cyrus among the performers for whom NERVO wrote or created music.
A representative example from this period is Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love) for Kylie Minogue’s album Aphrodite. NERVO wrote the song with Starsmith, after which the material was selected for the album and further developed during the project’s studio sessions.
The sisters also contributed to songs for Armin van Buuren. These works include Not Giving Up on Love with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Feels So Good with Nadia Ali and Drowning with Laura V. Their songwriting experience therefore never belonged exclusively to traditional pop music: even before achieving recognition as DJs, they were already working continuously at the intersection of the pop song and the electronic scene.
When Love Takes Over and the turning point of 2009
The defining event of their early career was their involvement in writing When Love Takes Over — a track by David Guetta featuring vocals by Kelly Rowland, released in 2009.
Miriam and Olivia co-wrote the song with Kelly Rowland, David Guetta and Frédéric Riesterer. The track became an international success and one of the recordings that symbolised the rapid convergence of European electronic music and the American pop scene at the end of the 2000s. Apple Music identifies When Love Takes Over as the moment of NERVO’s major professional breakthrough.
At the 52nd Grammy Awards, the track was nominated for Best Dance Recording. A separate version, When Love Takes Over (Electro Extended Remix), earned David Guetta the award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical. In NERVO’s biography, it is important to distinguish between these two achievements: the sisters’ principal contribution was their co-writing of the original song, after which demand for their songwriting work increased sharply.
NERVO themselves later described 2009 as a turning point. After When Love Takes Over, meetings and collaborative opportunities that had previously taken months to secure began being offered to them directly. At that stage, however, the breakthrough came to Miriam and Olivia primarily as songwriters rather than as DJs.
David Guetta and the transition to their own DJ career
David Guetta played an important role in transforming NERVO from a songwriting team into an independent electronic project. According to the sisters, he encouraged them not to restrict themselves to writing music for other DJs but to release their own tracks and perform under their own name.
NERVO’s first paid performance as a DJ project also came through Guetta — at a party at Pacha Ibiza. The sisters were given the earliest slot of the evening and effectively went straight from preparing at home to performing in one of Ibiza’s most famous clubs.
In 2010, they released This Kind of Love — one of the first recordings through which NERVO began systematically developing their own artist identity. Vogue identifies April 2010 as the release period of their first major single following the long period of working for other performers. Irresistible also appeared in their early catalogue.
From this point, their direction became increasingly clear. The sisters did not intend to become a conventional pop duo working with outside producers. They wanted to retain control over songwriting and technical production, create the electronic elements themselves and perform as DJs. At the time, such a model for a female project was still often met with scepticism within the industry, something NERVO later discussed extensively with DJ Mag.
The Way We See the World and Tomorrowland
In 2011, NERVO’s career became directly connected with the rapidly growing European festival culture. Together with Afrojack and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, the sisters created The Way We See the World, which became the official anthem of Tomorrowland 2011.
The track appeared during a period when Tomorrowland was rapidly evolving from a major Belgian festival into one of the international symbols of EDM. For NERVO, taking part in the official anthem provided an opportunity to move from professional recognition among songwriters and producers to the audience of major electronic festivals.
The Way We See the World also clearly demonstrates NERVO’s early festival language: large synthesizer lines, a direct four-on-the-floor rhythm, a clearly defined climax and vocal elements designed for a crowd of tens of thousands.
We're All No One
Another important release from 2011 was We're All No One, created by NERVO with Afrojack and Steve Aoki.
Unlike some of their earlier studio work, where the sisters remained behind the scenes as songwriters, We're All No One firmly established NERVO as an independent performing project. The single was released in September 2011 and was later included on their debut album Collateral.
This period also coincided with the sisters’ definitive transition to full-scale touring. Their songwriting work did not disappear: they continued writing music for other performers in parallel, but their own recordings and live appearances gradually became the main focus.
You're Gonna Love Again and working with Avicii
An important figure in NERVO’s early history was Avicii. The sisters met Tim Bergling before his career reached global scale and later recalled working with him during the period when he was still establishing his name within the electronic scene.
Their best-known officially released collaboration was You're Gonna Love Again, released in 2012. Miriam Nervo, Olivia Nervo and Tim Bergling are credited as the songwriters, while Avicii also participated in its creation as a producer.
Musically, You're Gonna Love Again belongs to the progressive house sound characteristic of the early 2010s, but differs noticeably from many festival instrumentals of the period. The vocal melody and song itself are just as important as the electronic climax.
The track clearly demonstrates NERVO’s main professional advantage: by the time they reached the major EDM stage, they already had many years of experience writing pop songs. They therefore did not need to learn how to combine club music with a chorus — they had been doing exactly that long before becoming widely known as DJs.
Reason and Like Home
In 2012, NERVO released several more tracks that strengthened their position within progressive house.
Reason, created together with Hook N Sling, developed the more melodic side of their work. Their collaboration later continued, and more than a decade afterwards the musicians returned to that history with the track My Reason.
Particularly successful was Like Home with Nicky Romero, introduced to audiences around Tomorrowland 2012 and released through Protocol Recordings. The track is built around NERVO’s vocal performance and a gradual transition into a large synthesizer theme — a structure characteristic of progressive house at the beginning of the decade.
Like Home eventually became one of the most recognisable recordings both in NERVO’s catalogue and in the early history of Protocol Recordings. Its longevity was confirmed by the release of a new remix package, Like Home (Remixes 2026), in 2026.
DJ Mag Top 100 DJs and the 2012–2013 breakthrough
In 2012, NERVO entered the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs for the first time, debuting at number 46. Just one year later came one of the biggest jumps in the ranking: in 2013, the duo climbed to number 16, which remains their highest position.
The rise reflected more than the popularity of individual singles. By this stage, NERVO were touring regularly, performing at major festivals and possessed an unusually strong songwriting résumé for a relatively new DJ act, including work with leading pop and electronic artists.
Hold On
One of their biggest original hits of this period was Hold On, released in April 2013. The track was created by NERVO together with R3HAB and combined a more intimate vocal section with the large festival climax characteristic of that period.
In the United States, Hold On reached number one on Billboard Dance Club Songs, becoming NERVO’s first single to top an American chart.
The track is particularly important for understanding the difference between NERVO and many DJ projects from the peak EDM era. The sisters did not use vocals simply as an introduction before an instrumental drop. In their music, the voice often serves as the starting point of the entire composition, with the electronic arrangement built around an already developed song.
Revolution
At the end of 2013, NERVO joined forces with R3HAB and Ummet Ozcan for Revolution, whose international release continued into 2014.
The contribution of each participant was relatively distinct: Spinnin' Records specifically highlighted NERVO’s vocals, Ummet Ozcan’s synthesizer work and R3HAB’s rhythmic contribution.
Revolution became one of the characteristic tracks from the period when big room and festival EDM were at their commercial peak. Yet even in this context, NERVO preserved the central element of their own approach — a complete vocal theme that could be separated from the festival arrangement and perceived as a song in its own right.
The surrounding period also produced Not Taking This No More with Ivan Gough and Beverley Knight, Ready for the Weekend with R3HAB and Ayah Marar, Sunshine Thru Rain Clouds with Duane Harden and other releases.
Collateral
NERVO’s debut studio album Collateral was released on July 24, 2015 through Ultra Music. The sisters had spent considerably longer reaching their first full-length album than most electronic acts that debuted in the early 2010s: by the time it appeared, they already had around fifteen years of experience working together.
The album title is connected with a real episode from their career. During a period when the sisters were close to leaving the music industry, one of their mentors told them that every meeting, studio session and unsuccessful project still became accumulated professional capital. Years later, this idea gave Collateral its name.
The album combined already familiar tracks with completely new material. It included Bulletproof with Harrison Miya, Hold On, Did We Forget with Amba Shepherd, Oh Diana, Haute Mess, Hey Ricky, Let It Go, Rainham Road, You're Gonna Love Again, We're All No One and other tracks.
A broad group of collaborators took part in the recording. The album features Nicky Romero, Steve Aoki, Afrojack, Kylie Minogue, Jake Shears, Nile Rodgers, Kreayshawn, Dev, Alisa Ueno, Amba Shepherd and other musicians. DJ Mag noted that Miriam and Olivia themselves performed the vocals on roughly one third of the material.
NERVO described the general foundation of Collateral as dance-pop, but the album is considerably more diverse than any single genre label suggests. Let It Go uses elements of drum and bass, Rainham Road moves toward more restrained club electronics, while The Other Boys is built around the disco-funk aesthetic associated with Nile Rodgers.
In 2016, DJ Mag noted that Collateral had reached number one in the dance section of iTunes.
The Other Boys
One of the album’s most unusual tracks was The Other Boys featuring Kylie Minogue, Jake Shears and Nile Rodgers.
Kylie Minogue’s involvement held additional significance for NERVO: the sisters had once worked for her as songwriters, whereas now they were inviting the singer onto their own record. Nile Rodgers contributed the distinctive guitar style associated with Chic, helping The Other Boys stand apart from the festival EDM that dominated at the time.
The track reached number one on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart and became one of the most successful singles from the album period.
People Grinnin' and supporting women in engineering
In 2016, NERVO released People Grinnin' featuring vocals by The Child of Lov. Alongside the music came the Made By Me initiative, created with the participation of eight Australian universities and aimed at encouraging more girls to pursue engineering careers.
The choice of theme was not accidental. Miriam and Olivia have direct experience in sound engineering and have repeatedly emphasised the technical side of their work. In the music video, female engineers create androids representing the members of NERVO, while the broader concept highlights how many different technologies lie behind modern music, stage production, lighting and everyday objects.
People Grinnin' also reached number one on Billboard Dance Club Songs.
Anywhere You Go
In September 2016, NERVO released Anywhere You Go with Timmy Trumpet through Monstercat.
The track became an example of the gradual move away from strict dependence on big room. Its songwriting side became more prominent, the arrangement lighter, and its rhythmic choices reflected the broader mid-decade shift in electronic music toward less aggressive structures.
A similar stylistic expansion continued with In Your Arms and the Quintino collaboration Lost in You.
Best Friend
One of NERVO’s biggest international successes of the second half of the 2010s was their involvement in Best Friend by Sofi Tukker, recorded together with The Knocks and Alisa Ueno.
The track gained particularly broad exposure after being used in the advertising campaign for the iPhone X. In January 2018, Best Friend reached number one on the US Billboard Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart and also entered the top five of Hot Dance/Electronic Songs.
For NERVO, the track was a natural continuation of their original professional specialisation. Even at the height of their international DJ fame, the sisters continued to move easily between their own club-oriented music and collaborative work on fully developed pop songs.
NERVO Nation and their own live environment
As their audience grew, NERVO began developing NERVO Nation — a name used for a radio show, their own parties and festival stages.
In 2018, Tomorrowland hosted a dedicated #NERVONation format, while the duo also launched their own recording initiative, Got Me Baby! Records, connected with Armada. The first announced release of this period was Like Air with Wolfpack.
This represented an important transition from the conventional career of touring DJs toward the creation of an entire environment around the project — with its own music, guest artists and recognisable name.
Worlds Collide
In 2018, NERVO began working with the International Volleyball Federation and created Worlds Collide — the official musical anthem of the Volleyball Nations League.
The track was first publicly presented in Ottawa during the Canada versus United States match. NERVO later performed during the final stages of the tournament in Nanjing and Lille.
The project demonstrated how far the duo’s music had moved beyond club culture by this point. NERVO were now working not only with music festivals but also with major international sporting events.
From festival EDM to a broader house sound
By the end of the 2010s, the electronic scene had changed significantly. Big room no longer held the dominant position it had during the era of Revolution or Hold On, and NERVO gradually restructured their own music as well.
During 2018–2019, they released Why Do I, What Would You Do for Love, Emotional, Habit, Sober and other tracks. These retained the duo’s characteristic melodic quality but relied increasingly less on the classic structure of large-scale festival EDM.
This transition was consistent with NERVO’s entire history. The sisters had never been tied exclusively to one direction: even on Collateral, dance-pop, progressive house, drum and bass elements, disco and more club-oriented electronics existed side by side.
2020: Goddess, Hurt and other releases
In 2020, the NERVO catalogue once again became particularly diverse.
Together with Krewella, they released Goddess, also featuring Raja Kumari. With 7 Skies, the duo released Love On Me, while with Frida Sundemo they created the more emotional Hurt. The same period also produced Supermodel with KANDY and Acrylic with Jess Ball.
These tracks are considerably more difficult to place under a single narrow genre description. NERVO could move from heavy festival electronics to vocal house, pop music and more experimental rhythmic approaches while retaining their recognisable focus on the chorus.
Gotta Be You and Basement
In 2021, NERVO released Gotta Be You with Carla Monroe, which became one of the duo’s most notable later vocal tracks. Apple Music continues to list it among NERVO’s most popular recordings.
Another side of the project appeared in Basement, released through Toolroom. The track is considerably closer to club house than to the sisters’ earlier festival hits. Toolroom included it in its own radio programming and 2021 catalogues.
The contrast between Gotta Be You and Basement clearly illustrates NERVO’s mature period: the need to choose between pop songwriting and club music had effectively disappeared. Both directions now existed in parallel.
Come Into My World
Another notable 2021 release was Come Into My World, recorded with Romanian singer Alexandra Stan. Apple Music lists the track among NERVO’s most popular later recordings.
The same period also produced Horizon, which demonstrates a more atmospheric side of the project. The track was used in an artistic project filmed inside the Omnia club in Las Vegas.
Releases from 2022–2024
In 2022, NERVO released Flames, Unbreakable, Giving It All and other singles. In 2023, they continued collaborating with artists from different parts of the electronic scene, releasing Could've Been Love, Hey Yesterday with Ben Nicky and Madlucky, Crazy with Plastik Funk and My Reason with Hook N Sling.
The title My Reason clearly refers back to their earlier collaboration with Hook N Sling, which began more than a decade earlier with Reason. Such returns to long-standing creative partners are characteristic of NERVO: Nicky Romero, David Guetta, Steve Aoki and other musicians have reappeared at different stages of their career.
In 2024, the catalogue expanded with Voices with 22Bullets and Naeleck, Come Dance, Talk About Us with Plastik Funk and Julia Temos, You're Not Alone with Rudeejay and Da Brooz, as well as Velocidade with Cat Dealers and Elise LeGrow.
These releases show that by the middle of the 2020s, NERVO had completely moved beyond the need to maintain one specific format. Depending on the collaboration, their music can move toward house, dance-pop, trance or heavier festival electronics.
NERVO in 2025
In 2025, NERVO continued their active studio and touring schedule.
With Australian DJ Tigerlily, they released Mickey, followed by Wherever You Go with B Jones and EKE. Together with Robin Schulz and KOPPY, NERVO recorded Freaking You Out.
In October, they released Billion Dollar Baby, created by NERVO together with Crazy Donkey and Studio Killers. The track was released through Liquid State.
Another notable project followed in November — Destination Unknown (Calabria) with 22Bullets. The track revisits one of the most recognisable dance themes of the 2000s and was released through Smash The House.
The duo’s festival activity also remained extensive. Among the major events of 2025, DJ Mag highlighted NERVO’s performance on the Tomorrowland Mainstage, as well as tours across Asia and a summer season in Ibiza.
In the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs 2025, NERVO placed 63rd. The publication noted that the sisters had remained regular participants in the ranking since 2012.
Don't Run and the harder direction of 2026
In 2026, NERVO once again demonstrated their ability to change musical context dramatically.
Together with Romanian techno artist Nusha, they released Don't Run. The track came out on April 29 through KOMBUSTIVE and represents a considerably harder club direction than the vocal house or festival EDM with which the NERVO name had been associated during previous decades.
For the duo, this does not appear to be an accidental attempt to follow another trend. Throughout their career, Miriam and Olivia have moved between different forms of electronic music, while their technical experience has allowed them to adapt their songwriting approach to different rhythmic structures.
During the summer of the same year, the story of their early progressive house period continued with Like Home (Remixes 2026) — a new package of versions of the Nicky Romero and NERVO track first released back in 2012. The release appeared on June 19, 2026 through Protocol Recordings.
NERVO’s musical style
NERVO’s music is most commonly associated with house, progressive house, electro house, big room and dance-pop, although the continuity of their career is more important than any individual genre label.
The defining feature of the project is its songwriting mindset. Miriam and Olivia entered the electronic scene not as DJs who later learned how to work with vocals, but as professional songwriters with many years of studio experience. As a result, the vocal melody in NERVO’s music almost always has value as an independent musical element.
This is particularly clear in You're Gonna Love Again, Like Home, Hold On, The Other Boys, People Grinnin', Gotta Be You and Come Into My World. The electronic production may belong to different eras and genres, but the compositional centre remains close to a pop song: verses, an immediately clear chorus and a melody that can be recognised even without the main rhythmic section.
A second characteristic is the sisters’ active involvement as vocalists. In the early period, NERVO frequently wrote vocal parts for other singers, but their own voices gradually became an important element of their recordings. On Collateral, approximately one third of the tracks already featured vocals by Miriam and Olivia.
A third defining feature is the absence of strict attachment to one type of electronic music. Over the years, NERVO have worked with progressive house, big room, electro house, drum and bass, disco, trap, tropical house, tech house and harder contemporary techno. Apple Music also notes the presence of big room, tropical house, trap and other styles in their catalogue.
Working as a duo
NERVO is built around the close creative partnership between the two sisters. Their roles are not divided according to a simple model in which “one writes and the other performs”: both participate in songwriting, studio production, vocals and DJing.
At the same time, the twins do not hide the fact that working together involves constant disagreements. In an interview with DJ Mag, they described the ability to argue quickly and then return to work just as quickly as one of the advantages of a family duo.
The duration of this collaboration is particularly notable. By the release of Collateral, they had already been making music together for around fourteen years, and by the middle of the 2020s their shared creative history had exceeded two decades.
NERVO and women in electronic music
A significant part of NERVO’s career unfolded during a period when the largest festival-oriented electronic scene was overwhelmingly male. The sisters repeatedly encountered assumptions that their visual image mattered more than their direct involvement in creating the music.
In a 2015 interview, they specifically drew attention to the fact that they entered the DJ profession after nine years of professional studio work. According to Olivia, their experience working with Avicii, David Guetta, Armin van Buuren and other musicians helped the project establish professional credibility before they achieved widespread recognition as DJs.
This subject later developed into a practical initiative through People Grinnin' and the Made By Me campaign, where NERVO advocated for greater participation by women in engineering and technical professions.
Their own history demonstrates why the issue was particularly important to them: NERVO’s music was built from the beginning not only around performance and image but also around technical studio work.
Festivals and touring
NERVO have performed at the world’s largest electronic music festivals for many years. Armada Music Publishing’s official biography lists Tomorrowland, EDC, Lollapalooza and Creamfields among the key festivals, alongside club residencies at Omnia, Hakkasan and Wet Republic in Las Vegas and Ushuaïa in Ibiza.
Tomorrowland holds a particularly important place in their history. The connection began with the anthem The Way We See the World in 2011 and continued through numerous performances, their own NERVO Nation format and regular appearances on the festival’s main stage. In 2025, DJ Mag again specifically highlighted their Tomorrowland Mainstage performance.
Constant touring became one of the reasons for the project’s longevity. Even as electronic music trends shifted from progressive house to big room, then toward future house, tech house and harder styles, NERVO continued working with a broad festival audience while gradually adapting their own repertoire.
DJ Mag Top 100 DJs
NERVO first appeared in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs in 2012, entering at number 46.
The following year, they climbed thirty positions to reach number 16 — the highest result in the project’s history.
The duo maintained a presence in the ranking for many years afterwards. In 2025, NERVO were ranked 63rd.
The ranking itself does not reflect the sisters’ entire professional history, since their songwriting career began considerably earlier than their DJ career. However, their long-running presence in the Top 100 demonstrates that NERVO managed to retain an international live audience far beyond the initial EDM boom of the early 2010s.
The album Collateral
Collateral — 2015
Collateral remains NERVO’s first and only full-length studio album. It was released on July 24, 2015 through Ultra Music.
Main tracks:
- Bulletproof — with Harrison Miya
- Hold On
- Did We Forget — with Amba Shepherd
- Oh Diana
- Haute Mess
- Hey Ricky — with Kreayshawn, Dev and Alisa Ueno
- Let It Go — with Nicky Romero
- Rainham Road
- You're Gonna Love Again
- We're All No One — with Afrojack and Steve Aoki
- The Other Boys — with Kylie Minogue, Jake Shears and Nile Rodgers.
Collateral best reflects the professional nature of NERVO. It is not an album by a DJ duo that requires outside writers for every song, but the work of musicians who themselves grew up within the international songwriting industry and only later transferred that experience into their own electronic music.
Key NERVO tracks
Among the duo’s most significant works are This Kind of Love, The Way We See the World, We're All No One, You're Gonna Love Again, Reason, Like Home, Hold On, Revolution, Ready for the Weekend, The Other Boys, People Grinnin', Anywhere You Go, Lost in You, Best Friend, Worlds Collide, Gotta Be You, Basement, Come Into My World, Hurt, Goddess, Giving It All, My Reason, Voices, Come Dance, Freaking You Out, Billion Dollar Baby, Destination Unknown (Calabria) and Don't Run.
Separate from their own performing catalogue is the songwriting legacy of Miriam and Olivia. Negotiate with Love, When Love Takes Over, Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love), Not Giving Up on Love and other works demonstrate that the story of NERVO does not begin with festival performances but with professional songwriting for other artists.
NERVO’s significance for electronic music
NERVO belong to the generation of artists that found itself at the centre of electronic music’s transition from club culture into the global pop mainstream during the late 2000s and early 2010s. Their position within this process was unusual: Miriam and Olivia first helped write songs that contributed to that transition itself, and only afterwards became a major electronic act under their own name.
When Love Takes Over helped connect European club production with the international pop scene. The Way We See the World arrived during the period when Tomorrowland was rapidly transforming into a global festival brand. We're All No One, Like Home, Hold On and Revolution appeared during the years of EDM’s greatest growth, while Collateral brought the sisters’ accumulated experience together in the form of their own album.
After the era of big room dominance ended, NERVO did not disappear together with its characteristic sound. They returned to the professional foundations that had existed within the project from the beginning: strong songwriting, collaboration with different artists and the ability to work in several forms of electronic music simultaneously.
This is why their later catalogue can contain the club-oriented Basement, the vocal-driven Gotta Be You, the pop-electronic Freaking You Out, a reinterpretation of a classic dance theme in Destination Unknown (Calabria) and the considerably harder Don't Run. These tracks belong to different musical environments, yet all preserve the songwriting approach developed in London studios long before NERVO’s first appearances at major festivals.
The more than twenty-year creative history of Miriam and Olivia Nervo therefore extends far beyond the conventional biography of a DJ duo. It encompasses professional pop songwriting, sound engineering, vocals, electronic music production, international festivals and years of touring. From writing for other performers and the breakthrough of When Love Takes Over to Collateral, Tomorrowland and their modern releases, NERVO have preserved the principle on which their career was built: the song remains at the centre, while the electronic form surrounding it can continue to change.
